Improvement in treating and preparing navassa guano



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAV ADOLPH LIEBIGr OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING AND PREPARING NAVASSA GUANO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,006, dated March 22,1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, G. A. LIEBIG, of Baltimore, in the county ofBaltimore, in the State of Maryland, have discovered a new and ImprovedMode of Utilizing Navassa Guano; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full andexact description thereof.

It is a well-known fact that on the Island of Navassa there are vastquantities of the article known as FNavassa guano, the supply thereofbeing in a measure inexhaustible, and that the same has, on account ofits peculiar properties, to some extent become an article of commerce.In its crude state, as collected from the island, this article is foundto analyze from forty to fifty parts of bone-phosphate of lime, fromeight to twelve parts of phosphate of iron and alumina, and theremaining parts in one hundred of peroxide of iron, organic andindetined matter. It is found, also, that in its larger particles exista greater proportion of bone-phosphate of lime and the phosphate of ironand alumina, whilein the smaller ones these elements exist in a lowdegree.

The object of my invention is, by the cleansing process hereinafterdescribed, to separate these larger and smaller particles, whereby I maybe enabled to introduce the former more successfully into themanufacture of the fertilizer, so-called superphosphate of lime, and theother into the manufacture of paints and other articles to which it isadapted.

The objection to the use of Navassa guano at this time, in themanufacture of this fertilizer, is its inferior quality as a phosphaticguano, and also the presence of so large an amount of peroxide of iron.This cleansing process is intended to and will obviate these objections,and at the same time supply large quantities of this latter ingredientin a state well adapted to the manufacture of other compounds.

The process by which I propose to separate these particles is in the useof suitable machinery constructed for th'at'purpose first to separatethe larger from the smaller ones. It is obvious that this may be done invarious ways.

particles, when dry, will be found in convenient condition for theproposed use, and to contain upon analysis as high as from seventyfiveto eighty-five per cent. of bone-phosphate of lime and the phosphate ofiron and alumina, the remainder being still from fifteen to twenty-fiveper cent. only of the more objectionable ingredients. The debris fromthis process may be collected in any suitable manner and applied to theuse indicated.

Having thus described my invention, what.

I desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The separating processherein indicated,

for cleansing and purifying Navassa guano.

2. The separate articles herein described as articles of manufacture,trade, or commerce, derivable from Navassa guano, in the mannerindicated, or by other analogous means.

GUSTAV ADOLPH LIEBIG.

Witnesses:

EMIL SUTRO, AUGUSTUS H. FICK.

